At 8:40 PM -0500 5/16/07, Randolph Peters wrote:
2) Composers do it because they need to write.
This is why authors write and painters paint and so on.
OK, I can accept that (although I don't know a whole lot about
painters and their motivations). But I have to point out at the same
time that writers also write because they have a ready market to
write for. Their writing may catch on or it may not, but there's
enough possibility of profit to engage the interest of writers agents
and publishers' editors. I don't see that kind of market for music
that isn't written without at least SOME kind of market in mind.
And one last thing:
John Eaton was an excellent composition teacher. His student's
compositional styles ranged from conservative to very experimental,
and most benefited and enjoyed their time working with him. His own
music is challenging to both performers and audience to be sure, but
his fans, and I consider myself one of them, are not just faking it.
I'm actually very, very glad you said this, Randolph. He came to
I.U., as far as we could tell, just to write operas, and my only
experience with his music was "Herakles," which I felt had entirely
too many spear carriers and too little inspiration. But if he
nurtured and developed students, as you say, I feel a lot better
about his work. And my only experience was, let's face it, 30 years
ago.
Just one more personal anecdote. At some point in the late '70s,
somebody in Indianapolis had an affair involving the honoring of
Hoagy Carmichael (who attended I.U. in the '20s, but not in music).
For some reason our Pro Arte Consort--early instruments and early
music--was sent to perform for the event. So ... I did some
arranging. Then I got up in front of the audience and gave a
pseudo-musicological introduction about this brand new Hoagy
Carmichael song that had been discovered in the restaurant he favored
in Bloomington, that had been authenticated by a study of the
buttermarks on the manuscript. We then swung into a perfectly nice
renaissance almand, which segued directly into an almand version of
"Ole Buttermilk Sky," and when we paused and our tenor sackbutt
player took the pickup notes to "Stardust," most of the audience
caught on and responded to what we were doing.
The point? Bernard Heiden and John Eaton were sitting together in
the front row. Heiden got a twinkle in his eye as soon as I
delivered the "buttermark" line, and cracked up when our almand
turned into "Ole Buttermilk Sky," long before the rest of the
audience caught on. Eaton remained clueless and probably never did
figure out what the audience was reacting to. Didn't make him a poor
composer or a poor teacher by any means, but did reveal a somewhat
narrow view of the world of music.
Thanks for your post, Randolph.
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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